Finding the Gamification Sweet Spot in Health

Dave Levy (@levydr)

I don’t love the word gamification, but rather than fight the jargon, it’s much more interesting to spend the time figuring out exactly what the concept means and how it relates. I won’t pretend that I’m anywhere close to an expert on game theory, but if we boil it down to a simple concept – basic, clear objectives that match incentive with accomplishment – hopefully we can at least explore the application to health mildly-academically.

The example I always think of when it comes to general tech adoption of gamification was the initial appeal of Foursquare‘s badges and, of course, mayorship honors. Even in its earliest stages at SXSW at 2009, the motivation to get into using the app came a lot from these early, completely non-tangible rewards. Obviously, Foursquare has become a force to be reckoned within the LBS space since then, and…